The Best and Worst Moment of WrestleMania 17

The general consensus is that WrestleMania 17 is the single best ‘Mania, and arguably the best PPV that WWE has ever put on. It had something for everyone with the marquee value of Steve Austin battling The Rock in the main event, the sports entertainment heavy shenanigans of Vince vs. Shane McMahon, the car crash spectacle of the second ever TLC match, the technical showcase of Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit, and the nostalgic good humor of the Gimmick Battle Royal.

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Book all of this against a backdrop of WWE having insane momentum, fresh off winning the Monday Night War, and you have a show that’s truly tough to compete with. This article takes a look back at the best and worst moment of the show

Best Moment: Austin and McMahon share a toast

Steve Austin and Mr. McMahon formed an unholy alliance to celebrate at the end of WrestleMania 17.

WrestleMania 17 had a lot of great moments, including Edge’s iconic spear off a ladder to Jeff Hardy, Linda McMahon rising from a comatose state to low blow her husband, and The Rock and Steve Austin immediately throwing hands to kick start their main event match. In the end, though, there was no more poetic image to cap an all-time great show, commemorate winning the Monday Night War, and arguably signal the end of the successful Attitude Era than a newly heel Steve Austin toasting a beer with Mr. McMahon after the main event.

To be fair, may—including Austin himself—have second-guessed the heel turn in hindsight. Regardless, for the moment itself, it was a genuine surprise and fitting memory from a special time in wrestling history.

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Worst Moment: The Undertaker-Triple H brawl gets a little too aimless

Triple H and The Undertaker have had quite the rivalry over their careers, but their WrestleMania 17 match didn't represent their best work

The Undertaker’s match with Triple H at WrestleMania 17 was by no means objectively bad. However, on a long, stacked show it is at least disappointing that the match didn’t quite meet expectations.

Rather than a sound psychological war between two ring generals, a good portion of this over-long match was an aimless brawl through the crowd.

The dynamic seemed built to play to the brand of arena-spanning chaos Attitude Era fans liked, but never quite clicked in to feel as heated or focused as it should have been, not to mention that the meandering nature of the fight risked losing the crowd so deep into the show, and with a more hotly anticipated main event still on the way.